Breathing in the Dark
by Miss J Idiotic
Summary: She's not even three feet tall, four years old, and he's pretty sure she just shattered that boy's jaw. It's the first time Kakashi sees a taijutsu teacher look so horrified. Eventual Kakashi/OC.
1. Prologue: When the World is Blue

_A/N:_ For a start, I've been planning this fic for _years_. I'm serious. At first, I had a cast of rather Mary-Sue-esque characters so I spent my time reflecting on them, and detailing the plot. So I hope it's okay, because I've been working very hard to make it the best it can be. I've finally gathered the courage to post this, so try not to be too harsh – but constructive criticism is appreciated. Enjoy, and remember to review and tell me your thoughts :)

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><p>-X-<p>

**Breathing in the Dark ****  
><strong>暗闇の中で呼吸

Prologue  
>When the World is Blue<p>

-X-

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><p>The panicked hiss of Lord Tamamaru Ren Ren the First stirs the young girl from her unfathomable dreams. She sits up lazily, rubbing the grogginess from her eyes with a tiny fist and attempts to focus her sight in the pitch black darkness. She has always had impeccable eyesight (an attribute she is understandably proud of and has found undeniably useful on several occasions) and sets her eyes on the small black silhouette that can only be recognisable as her pet kitten.<p>

Flinching violently, the black cat sets a pair of striking sky blue eyes on his young owner, his gaze wild and feral. Undaunted by this, his owner pouts childishly and lifts him up, whispering soothingly, "Ne, what's wrong, Tama-chan?" The feline wriggles fiercely, leaping from her grasp and dashing from the room in a fearful sprint. Bewilderment sets in, and she rolls clumsily out from under her light summer duvet, her far-too-long pyjama bottoms greatly hindering her escape from the blankets.

Once free from the clutches of her bed linen, her short legs guide her towards the darkness of the hallway. The lone window there filters fleeting glimpses of moonlight though the blinds, casting her pale skin in a ghostly glow. Her tiny feet shuffle sleepily towards the gap in the doorway to her mother's room, which she spots her kitten's black tail disappear through. Curious, she follows.

She pushes the heavy door open with all the might a four year old can muster and momentarily revels in the warm summer breeze washing over her face from the open balcony door on the opposite side of the room, the white curtains billowing ominously like phantoms. But then she notices the threatening figure standing in the centre of the room, hovering dangerously over the bed in which her mother lays.

Her mother's form is laid hazardously across the bed, a gaping hole torn through the centre of her heart. Her wide, pupiless hazel eyes stare lifelessly at the ceiling, dried tear marks running down her once rosy cheeks. Her wavy blonde hair sprawls around her like an ashen halo, dyed red from the spilt blood.

The figure lingers by the bedside, gripping a bloodied katana, the blade of which is thrust through the woman's chest. Her deep red blood seeps into the white of the bed sheets, spurting generously from her fatal wounds. He draws the sword from her body slowly – taking his time in the process – before carelessly tossing the weapon aside. His turquoise gaze watches the woman's body similarly to that of a hunter admiring his captured prey. His bloodied hands curl into fists.

Shaking with horror, the little girl collapses to the floor, legs too weak to hold her up any longer. The blunt thud of her knees hitting the wooden floorboards alerts the man to her presence and his bright blue gaze locks with her own. Terror freezes her to the spot, flows through her veins, becomes the very essence of her as his murderous stare drills into her soul. Petrified tears leak from her eyes and her lips tremble. Her mouth goes dry; she struggles to swallow the lump in her throat. Her heart beats erratically in her chest. She thinks her ribs might just crack under the pressure.

And then her whole world is on fire.

The room is suddenly alight with searing blue flames, the azure radiance of the blaze emitting a freakish cerulean glimmer across her fair skin. The cobalt blaze spreads through the room, catching onto the billowing curtains and tattered floor mat. The man glances at the circle of turquoise flames in which he has been surrounded by and, taking one last brief glance at the tiny girl sitting motionlessly in the doorway, vanishes into the darkness of the night.

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><p><span>Trivia:<span> Reika's name is written with the kanji 麗歌 (Katakana: レイカ, Hiragana: れいか) and translates as "Beautiful Song".


	2. Chapter I: In the Same Boat

_A/N:_ Hey there, it's J here :D Please enjoy Chapter I of _Breathing in the Dark_.

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><p>-X-<p>

**Breathing in the Dark ****  
><strong>暗闇の中で呼吸

Chapter I  
>In the Same Boat<p>

-X-

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><p>He is seven years old, a fully capable – not to mention deadly – chūnin, and his father still insists that he must hold his hand while walking across the street. It's the man's nature, Kakashi supposes, to act as if his only son isn't the child prodigy reality makes him out to be. The boy thinks (knows) that his father is proud of him in the same way he knows that the sky is blue and that the Earth revolves around the sun. But Kakashi is also sure that beneath the pride that his son is '<em>the best shinobi Konoha has produced since The Yellow Flash himself<em>', he is also mildly terrified at the prospect of his little boy growing up too fast.

Civilian children start first grade at the age of six. Kakashi killed for the first time at the age of six.

Perhaps Sakumo is merely trying to protect the precious child his beloved wife left behind, or perhaps Kakashi truly is a naïve young boy in his eyes. Either way, Konoha's White Fang leads his son down the street by his hand and tells him in a gentle voice not to talk to strangers. Neither of them mention that any suspicious characters would find themselves with a kunai against their throat before any potentially dangerous acts could be committed. Kakashi isn't helpless by any means.

So when Kakashi spots a tiny girl, several years his junior, shuffling down the road unaccompanied, his pride takes a damaging blow and the grip on his father's hand loosens ever-so-slightly. Sakumo, ever the observer, notices the cause for his son's embarrassment and, like a gentleman, asks the little girl if she is lost.

"No," she says, and Kakashi can't help noticing the sickeningly dark circles around her eyes and the unhealthy shade of pasty white her skin is. Her tiny body is so frail and small and delicate that Kakashi fears one blow of the wind would shatter her completely. In one diminutive hand she holds a plastic bag, filled to the brim with groceries and she lifts it up for them to inspect. "Itsuki-san is always away on important missions," she explains in a childish voice so quiet and distant that it could have been merely a whispering breeze, "so I'm shopping for food. He never has time to cook dinner for me." Her voice is bland and uncaring.

Kakashi glances at the contents of the bag and raises an eyebrow at the unbelievable amount of cakes and sweets within. It explains the malnourishment, he supposes; the girl must have one hell of a sweet tooth. Sakumo too frowns in disapproval. He places a large hand on the girl's dark blonde head and asks, "Who is Itsuki-san? Is he you father?"

"No. I don't have a father." Once again, her words are cold and impassive. "I have to go home now. Tama-chan will be hungry."

"Wait," Kakashi finds himself saying, the words leaving his mouth before he even processes the thought. "What's your name?"

She stares at him with ice-cold eyes, pupiless turquoise-blue irises glittering in the bright sunshine. She blinks her long dark eyelashes slowly. She turns on her heel and, as if by afterthought, Kakashi hears the words whispered on the wind. "Suzuki Reika."

"Reika-chan," he mutters under his breath and Sakumo ruffles his son's silver hair knowingly before leading them both home.

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><p>The next time Kakashi sets eyes on Suzuki Reika, she is pummelling a fellow student twice her size into the ground.<p>

Kakashi has always been short for his age but Reika is something to behold. She's not even three feet tall, four years old, and he's pretty sure she just shattered that boy's jaw. It's the first time Kakashi sees a taijutsu teacher look so horrified.

He had just been passing by the Ninja Academy on his way to the Hokage Tower to meet up with his sensei when he was delightfully surprised to spot a flash of hair the colour of golden wheat and, in a spontaneous act of curiosity, had leapt past the academy gates to get a closer look. It helps that he is still young enough to fit in with the crowds of children now surrounding the brawl.

Her fighting style is messy yet unrelenting, and her punches aren't particularly strong but they sure as hell are well executed and Reika's arrogant opponent is reduced to a stocky pile of bruises by the time the teachers flood into the playground and haul her off of the boy's quivering body. Her limbs are still flailing as two chūnin sensei attempt to heave her back into the school building. She spits at the boy spitefully as she is dragged away, and he spits out a dislodged tooth.

Kakashi is secretly impressed. His pure surprise is a little more difficult to conceal.

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><p>Sakumo comes home one day, bloodied and dirty and exhausted from the war, to find Kakashi serving Reika a portion of miso soup with eggplant (the boy's favourite food) over a candlelit dinner. He thinks it strange at first, to see children dining in such a way, before Kakashi explains that the southern part of the city is in blackout and he couldn't find a torch. The white haired man proceeds to forget about his previous enquiries when he is blessed to witness the hilarious montage of expressions Reika pulls after tasting a rather large piece of hideously cooked eggplant.<p>

Konoha's White Fang joins the two children for dinner and is thoroughly questioned by both of them as to what his day consisted of. He mostly sugar-coats it, and excludes all the bits he doubts he will be able to retell, leaving for a mostly uninteresting tale, but they listen intently nonetheless. Their eyes light up in wonder and awe, and Sakumo is momentarily astounded that these two children, now so innocent, will grow up to be vicious killers.

Reika almost spits out her soup in laughter when Kakashi executes a surprise tickle attack beneath the tabletop.

The Hatake family doesn't seem to notice when they begin to set three places at the dinner table instead of two in the weeks to come. One day, though, a small black cat is seen trotting around the house and the spare bedroom is most definitely occupied if the mess of tomboyish clothing spread across the carpet isn't a big enough clue. An extra pair of miniature sandals settles next to the other two at the doorway, and the television is abruptly hijacked by kung-fu movies and DVD box sets.

Kakashi is suddenly very glad she isn't the typical kind of girl who likes romantic comedies and gross stuff like that.

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><p>Christmas is a time for families.<p>

So when Reika is sat with the two Hatake males, eating Christmas cake (Kakashi decided it was too sweet and resulted to a bowl of noodles), she begins to wonder if she has been accepted as a makeshift member of their little broken family. When she finds a present with her name on it beneath the small tree she gains a smidgen of hope and when Sakumo tucks her in bed at night she lets herself wonder if this is what having a father is like.

During New Years, while eating osechi together as they listen to the bells ringing from the centre of the village, Reika can almost forget that there is a war going on; can almost forget that Sakumo will have to leave them for days, weeks, at a time and that Kakashi has to go on missions at the borders, and that she has to go to the academy and work towards her dream of becoming a shinobi, and that maybe not all three of them will make it through this war.

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><p>Reika is sitting on the garden veranda, brushing her small fingertips across the smooth glass of a photo frame. This is how Sakumo finds her, with dark flaxen tresses fluttering in the winter breeze. Konoha has never had particularly freezing winters, but he drapes his coat over her shoulders nevertheless before he settles down beside her.<p>

He is surprised to find one of his own photos in-between Reika's small palms, the image of his beautiful wife smiling up at him. Her long dark hair is collected over a slim sun-kissed shoulder, her gentle hand placed over her swollen belly tenderly. Her green eyes shimmer brightly in the intensity of the sunlight. Sakumo traces his own larger fingers over the glass-encased image and sighs sadly.

"She died when Kakashi was born," he says, so quiet and so absolutely heartbreaking that Reika feels a lump form in her throat. "He never knew her."

There is a long pause in which they both just admire the woman's beauty and Sakumo traces her facial features with his thumb in longing, memories flitting across his mind like the romantic movies Reika hates so much.

"That happened to otou-san, I think." Reika frowns sadly and wraps an undersized hand around Sakumo's index finger. She doesn't even need to mention what happened to her mother, as news travels fast in Konoha and nobody gossips like a bunch of ninja. The little girl rubs at her bright blue eyes, which are downcast and tearful. "Okaa-chan didn't like talking about it. It always made her sad." As if by realisation, Reika spins to stare up into Sakumo's eyes, searching.

He smiles forlornly and rustles her shoulder-length hair, illogically appreciative of her presence and oh-so-grateful to her for just _being there_. He sends her inside to put the photo frame back with a tap on the back and she wipes her eyes on her sleeve as she goes. Sakumo turns to glance up at the sky, grey winter clouds floating by without a care, and a single anguished tear falls from his eye.

Inside, Reika shuffles through the living room and tiptoes precariously atop of several phone books to carefully place the photo back in its rightful place atop the windowsill, shining the glass with the edge of her sleeve before stepping back to appreciate her work. She adjusts the picture a little to the left and, once satisfied, bows politely to it. All the while, Kakashi watches her from the doorway, an unreadable emotion in his obsidian eyes.

Later that day, he glances at the platinum-haired, hazel-eyed beauty framed upon Reika's bedside table and frowns sadly.

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><p>April 4th comes around quickly and Kakashi remembers her birthday before she does.<p>

The young boy kicks open her bedroom door – ignoring the fact that she is sprawled precariously over the edge of her bed in nothing but an oversized t-shirt which he is pretty sure she stole from him – a tray of her favourite breakfast (homemade pancakes with lemon juice and sugar) held in his arms. Sakumo follows in afterwards, a few compromisingly wrapped presents in hand. The two males have never been particularly talented at decorating gifts, but Kakashi hopes the homemade card will make up for it.

The scent of food stirs her from slumber, as does Lord Tamamaru Ren Ren the First leaping up onto the covers, landing directly on her stomach and causing her to sit up abruptly and almost bump heads with Kakashi, who has perched himself on her bedside. They stare into each other's shocked eyes for a moment before Sakumo bursts into laughter and they both blush and demand him to stop immediately.

Still flushed from embarrassment, Kakashi settles the breakfast tray on Reika's lap and she digs in as if she hasn't eaten for days. Her appetite never fails to disappoint. Kakashi takes the time to discern the healthier tone of her still pale skin compared to the very first time they met, and is happy to note the black bags beneath her eyes are long gone. Although still short and slender, her body is now sturdier and strong; Kakashi feels a surge of relief that she is no longer as ill as she once was.

Licking the grains of lemony sugar from around her mouth, she thanks them both for the _awesome_ breakfast and a grin as bright as the sun sweeps across her features. Kakashi mumbles an incoherent reply and thrusts an envelope into her hands, eyes darting around to look at anything but her. Sakumo chuckles. Tama-chan takes on the responsibility of a dishwasher and proceeds to lick the breakfast plate clean.

The card is made of two pieces of different coloured paper stuck together and folded neatly in half. The outside is black – her favourite colour – and covered in a disarray of gold and orange sequins, with a large red five glued messily in the centre. The words "Happy Birthday" are scrawled in Kakashi's distinctively neat handwriting in silver gel pen across the top of the page. There is a doodle of Tama-chan in the lower right corner and a spiky grey-and-white splatter, which she assumes is Sakumo, in the left. She opens it up and is greeted with bright lime-green card and a cascade of shiny confetti that falls out onto the bed covers, her birthday message scribbled in purple felt tip pen.

_To Reika_

_Happy Birthday!  
>Hope you have the best birthday ever<br>and don't forget your birthday wish_

_Love from your best friend,  
>Kakashi<em>

_P.S. Thanks for everything_

Reika's eyes linger briefly on the words just before his names and smiles, a warm feeling flooding her heart. She then proceeds to fling herself at him, startling the cat, and wraps her short arms around his neck tightly. She squeezes her eyes shut while Kakashi's widen in utter surprise and she doesn't even bother wondering what he was thanking her for anyway.

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><p>Her nightmares come back in the summer.<p>

Kakashi hears her first scream and is there in an instant, a deadly sharp kunai ready to rid of any and all threats that may try to harm her. He is relieved to find her room empty but worry sets in again when he spots her, huddled vulnerably beneath the covers, silent tears falling from her eyes. He strides over, places the kunai on the bedside table – still within reach just in case – and wraps his arms around her. Surprisingly, she reaches out for him too.

Neither of them are sure how long they sit like it, her head resting against his shoulder as she struggles to stop the tears from falling, but they eventually fall asleep from the exhaustion of haunting nightmares and heroic acts.

Sakumo stumbles his way indoors after a week away from his children (he isn't sure when it went from being just _Kakashi_ to _Kakashi and Reika_) and, before binding his twisted ankle, decides to check up on the two of them. He peeks his head through the already-open door of Reika's room and smiles contentedly when he spots the two children intertwined underneath the blankets, clinging to one another like life depends on it.

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><p>Kakashi's eighth birthday whizzes past in a blur of salt-broiled saury, practising kunai, new t-shirts, and old confetti which Reika finds under the couch and stuck to her cheek and inside one of her shoes. She bakes him a fruit cake and makes it as un-sweet as possible, without tasting disgusting of course, and he eats at least one piece to please her. The card she makes him is huge and has to sit on the floor rather than the fireplace because it is far too big to put anywhere else. She is strangely proud of this fact.<p>

Namikaze Minato, Kakashi's sensei, pops in to visit for half an hour and Reika spends that time staring up at his bright, bright yellow hair, so much more colourful than her plain dark blonde locks, and she gapes in awe at him throughout. Kakashi nudges her in amused embarrassment and she snaps her mouth shut, eyes falling to the floor. Minato-sensei chuckles at them both and hands his student a new weapons pouch which Kakashi puts on immediately, Reika staring in mild jealousy.

Minato-sensei spares the gigantic birthday card a glance on his way out and Reika grins. Kakashi insists that the small family head to one of the training grounds to test out his new weapons. Having never been to the training grounds before, Reika agrees instantaneously.

She sits in front of Sakumo, who brushes through her silky medium-length hair, as the two of them watch the eight year old boy's deadly aim strike the bull's eye every single time. When he misses the centre for the first time in an hour, Sakumo berates him playfully. "Stop trying to impress Reika-chan and focus on what you're doing." Kakashi blushes profusely and Reika looks on, obliviously unaware.

He eventually invites his younger friend over to teach her how to throw the kunai and – after her half-hearted attempt at explaining that they have just begun learning about weapon in the academy – he stands behind her and whispers the instructions in her ear as he demonstrates what she should do, and she nods at each one, determined.

It takes seven tries before she hits the target and it gets easier from there. By the end of the day, she can hit near enough the bull's eye too.

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><p>Sakumo returns after several war-torn months to a village of bitter pessimists and both Kakashi and Reika begin to notice the dark shadows under his eyes and the sadness in his voice. Reika holds his hand a little tighter as they walk through the village streets, and Kakashi hangs his head in confused shame.<p>

Sakumo doesn't smile in remembrance anymore when Reika plucks a star-shaped confetti piece from his forearm and he doesn't laugh when she and Kakashi start another fight about the potential deliciousness and/or vulgarity of eggplant and he doesn't chuckle the next time Reika leaps happily at Kakashi, their heads crashing together clumsily. He looks suspiciously like Itsuki-san did after her mother's death and Reika begins to wonder if he'll start taking on dangerously suicidal missions too.

Reika doesn't notice the angry and vulgar letters that keep being posted through the letterbox but Kakashi does and he reads every single one before shredding them with his old kunai and throwing them in the trash. Reika doesn't notice the furious stares of the villagers, but Kakashi does and he feels a strange disgrace fall on his shoulders with every one.

So Kakashi isn't surprised when he finds Sakumo's body lying inert across the living room floor, but that doesn't mean to say that he isn't horrified. The man that raising him, loved him, is now dead by his own bloody hand. Kakashi wants to turn around, tell Reika to _stay where she is_ but he can't because he's glued to the spot and it's too late and she's rushed into the room after him and she freezes, her bright blue eyes casting over. Kakashi feels bile rise in his throat and tears leak from his eyes.

She has run from the room before she can even think about anything else and she is shaking and stumbling but it's not the first body of a loved one that she's seen so she grabs the phone book and can hardly turn the pages or dial the numbers anymore but she has to _try_. She is sobbing even before Minato-sensei picks up the phone.

"Please, Minato-sensei," she hiccups and she feels lightheaded and her knees start wobbling, "please help us."

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><p>Minato's heart almost breaks at the sound of the little girl's terrified sobbing and he tells her he is on his way and he shouts out something scrambled and nonsensical when Kushina asks him where he's going in such a hurry. He greatly regrets not having a seal anywhere near the Hatake household that he can use his jutsu to teleport to, so he results to dashing across the rooftops at a breakneck pace – even without his jutsu, he is still the fastest ninja in the village.<p>

When he reaches the house, he hurtles through the front door, panicked and distressed. He rounds the corner and his eyes dart to the little girl collapsed on the floor, curled in on herself as she sobs heavily, her head in her hands. The phone lays discarded beside her.

He moves forwards and it is then that he notices the red liquid pooling around a body, and the little boy standing there, _just standing there_, and it is at this moment that Minato remembers that despite being a capable, not to mention deadly, chūnin, Kakashi is still only eight years old.

And his father is dead.

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><p>It is as they stand in the unrelentingly heavy rain, dressed entirely in a sombre shade of Reika's favourite colour, that she realises they're now both in the same boat.<p>

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><p><em>AN:_ God, those last few scenes were damn depressing. :'(

After about a million drafts of this chapter, I decided to settle with this style of writing because it was easier to go through all the different scenes in such a short amount of writing, and it was a simpler way to go about showing Kakashi and Reika's friendship, as well as her bond with Sakumo and even with Minato. I tried to keep everyone in character as much as possible in the snippets they were shown in, so I hope it's to your taste. Future chapters may be written somewhat differently, as will the characters.

Trivia: Reika's favourite foods are pancakes (with lemon juice and sugar) and castella, whilst her least favourite foods are eggplant and most vegetables.


	3. Chapter II: Resistance is Futile

_A/N:_ It's been over a year and I have no excuse. I'm sorry… I hope some of this makes up for it.

Enjoy!

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><p>-X-<p>

**Breathing in the Dark ****  
><strong>暗闇の中で呼吸

Chapter II  
>Resistance is Futile<p>

-X-

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><p>Tama-chan dislikes the new apartment, if his raised hackles and fearful hisses are anything to go by.<p>

It's small and cramped and smells of dog, which is most likely what upsets the young cat the most, and Reika doesn't like it much either. The rooms are minimalistic and boring, with plain wooden surfaces and avocado coloured walls – a disgusting shade of green, in her opinion. A tiny kitchenette containing the bare necessities is merged with the main living area, which only has enough space for a small sofa, a battered coffee table and the TV from their old home. Reika knows they are especially lucky to be able to keep it and is both grateful and relieved that she will still be able to watch her favourite kung-fu movies without restraint.

Her room isn't much better than the rest of their new home, however, barely fitting her bed, closet and dressing table inside. The air smells musty and the hardwood floor creaks loudly with the slightest movement. Reika misses her old room – not the one she used to sleep in when she was still living with Itsuki-san; that was almost as dark and diminutive as the one here. Not even the spacious yet hideously girly one she had way back when she lived with her mother. No, she misses the one in the Hatake household. She misses the way the sun shone through the window in the early hours of the morning and how she could look outside and see the already-bustling street below, people obliviously going about their daily business. She misses the way she had enough space to throw all her clothes onto the floor without a care in the world and it still wouldn't look vastly untidy. She misses the way the pale walls, speckled with her favourite photos and posters and drawings, looked bright and welcoming when she came home from the academy after a tough day of taijutsu training.

Mostly though, she misses the close proximity to Kakashi. In their new apartment, his room is situated all the way on the opposite side, separated by the main living area and kitchen. She hates the distance. But she won't admit to the boy in question that the main reason she is so upset with their new accommodation is because she is not close enough to him. That would just be embarrassing. She blushes at the thought.

"Reika-chan!" As if on cue, Kakashi calls her from his place in the kitchen where he is unpacking various pieces of cutlery and placing them in the appropriate drawers. "Could you pass me that box over there?"

She steps away from her tiny bedroom window where she is distastefully glaring at the disgusting view of the alleyway below, and shuffles out of the room with an armful of odds-and-ends from one of the moving boxes. Tama-chan follows at her feet before darting under the sofa to hide. She settles her things down on the coffee table with a moody sigh. "Where?"

The silver-haired boy motions with a wave of his hand in the general direction of the front door, too busy sorting out the knives and forks to give her a helpful answer of any kind. She wanders over to the tiny hall space by the door, a closet for household cleaning supplies on one side and a cupboard for shoes and coats on the other. It is there that she finds a few smaller boxes labelled in Kakashi's surprisingly neat handwriting, so she drags them along the wooden floor towards the kitchenette with all her might, depositing them beside her friend so he can sift through them. He thanks her before pulling out some plates covered in newspaper and begins stacking them in one of the higher cupboards, tiptoeing on a stool to reach.

A loud knock at the door almost makes him drop the bowl in his hand as he teeters on the edge of the stool and Reika bursts into childish laughter at the shocked expression on his face. He flushes in embarrassment, glaring at her with dark eyes, and sends her to open the door.

"Hey there, kiddo!" Minato-sensei greets her with a warm grin and arms full of gifts and she blushes shyly at him, bowing her head. He ruffles her already messy hair in welcome before following her into the living room. Kakashi pauses what he is doing in favour of seeing what his teacher has brought them, grinning when he spots some of Kushina's home-made meals wrapped up in plastic bags. "Don't expect any more meals from us," the Yellow Flash warns them with a half-jokingly stern voice, "You'll have to learn to cook for yourselves eventually. These are just to stock up your cupboards."

The three of them spend the next twenty minutes filling up the fridge with food, and the two children eventually manage to persuade (bully) Minato into helping them unpack the rest of their things with a few of his shadow clones. By the end of the day they're all exhausted so Minato feels it would be in all their best interests to treat themselves to Ichiraku ramen before he accompanies them back home to their small apartment building. Once inside, neither of the children make it to their respective rooms, instead collapsing on the lumpy couch with a light blanket tossed over the both of them, keeping one another warm during the chilly night. Tama-chan curls up at their feet, purring contently.

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><p>The new school year sneaks up on Reika just three days before her sixth birthday and she rolls out of bed with a sour look on her face and dark shadows under her eyes from lack of sleep. No one in their household sleeps much anymore, not since Sak-<p>

She rids herself of the painful thoughts and rubs her eyes with small fists as she pads her way across the creaky floor towards the kitchen area. Kakashi is away on a B-rank mission with his sensei so the apartment is unmistakably quiet, save for Tama-chan's constant mewing. She decides to make herself some toast and fills the cat bowl with food while she waits. Leaning her head on her hand as she sits at the kitchen table, she sighs solemnly. Today is her first day as a second-year student at the Ninja Academy. She supposes she should be excited.

Once dressed in a grey t-shirt, black shorts and a matching hooded jacket, she bids goodbye to Tama-chan with a half-hearted salute and locks the door on her way out as she pulls on her black sandals. She rushes clumsily down the dark hallway of the apartment building and out onto the street before slowing her pace again to a casual stroll. The building is especially unsettling when Kakashi isn't there with her and she is glad to have an excuse to stay away for a few hours.

As she makes the long journey towards the Academy building, she feels a shiver run up her spine when a blast of cold wind hits her, followed by the disconcerting feeling of someone's eyes following her every movement. She chews her lip in worry, the feeling not leaving her until she is safely inside her first class of the day.

* * *

><p>Kakashi's body is heaving with adrenalin and exhaustion and breathlessness by the time he nearly collapses through the entranceway of their tiny home, having sprinted there from the Hokage's office after leaving his sensei to give the mission report alone. Tripping over his own feet as he pulls off his shoes, he stumbles across the living area and knocks his knee loudly on the coffee table, cursing bitterly in a way no eight year old ever should, as he tries to manoeuvre to the miniature hallway on the right side of the apartment.<p>

He pushes open the door on the left and drags his feet inside, scowling at the loud creaks the floor makes as he walks. Perching himself on the side of the bed, he lets out a sigh of relief when he spots the numbers on the digital clock on the bedside table. 23:39. He made it.

Her bright eyes flutter open, still heavy from her restless sleep, but a wide smile spreads across her features when she recognises him. She struggles to sit up, bound by her duvet, but manages to wrap her tiny arms around him tightly. He hugs her back, smiling softly at her clumsiness as he buries his face in her unruly hair.

"I'm sorry I missed it," he mutters sadly, "Happy Birthday."

"It doesn't matter, you're here now."

* * *

><p>Reika's academy teachers quickly notice that her chakra control is unique, if not incomparable. The way in which she moulds and manipulates it is something akin to both the late Senju Tobirama, as well as the now infamous Namikaze Minato. Perhaps this is why the latter discerns it so quickly. She not only forms the energies inside her body before constructing a jutsu, but also outside of it. This is theoretically impossible, but Reika is too young and inexperienced to know that yet.<p>

So when she is fighting amidst her class in yet another taijutsu lesson, Minato – who is observing from a nearby rooftop – is able to spot the subtle way in which her chakra sends out shockwaves as she thrusts her palm forwards and how a roundhouse kick with her right leg propels a pulse of streamlined chakra straight at the opponent. It's not quite refined enough to deal large amounts of damage, not yet, so Minato doesn't worry about it too much. He is surprised that all this use of extra chakra doesn't tire her out and summarises that she probably has above average stamina and rather large chakra reserves. But he does ponder whether Reika knows about this little quirk herself.

When he finds her in Training Ground 4, striking down targets from three metres away with the use of her chakra shockwaves, he guesses that she probably does.

* * *

><p>Minato advices Kakashi, in a way much less like a hint and more like an unquestionable order, that he and Reika should train together more. This brings back hurtful memories of his father brushing his fingers through Reika's dark blonde hair and teasing him for showing off in front of her and the three of them laughing over Reika's first failed attempts at kunai wielding, but he squeezes his eyes shut and forces the thoughts away.<p>

He does as his sensei asks and soon enough he is perfecting Reika's basic katas, which are slightly messy but overall rather advanced compared to the rest of her class. She, in turn, shows him what she has dubbed _Chakra Tainted Taijutsu_ with an impressive demonstration involving a swipe of her arm, releasing a slash of chakra through the air which slices one of the targets in half. He raises one silver eyebrow in suppressed curiosity and she grins, agreeing with his silent question as to teach it to him.

He doesn't quite master it in the same way she does, but his fingertips begin to leak electricity when he focuses hard enough and eventually he can strike raw, paralysing lightning into the air. He calls it _Element Tainted Taijutsu_ and she accuses him of copyright infringement, but in words more along the lines of "You copycat!"

It's their own original fighting style and it's their little secret – and Minato-sensei's too, because he spotted them using it – but when Minato-sensei deems things like the Summoning Technique and Shape Manipulation more important for Kakashi to learn, Reika refines her new ability on her own.

Meanwhile, the Third Hokage mulls over a bizarre request from said jōnin sensei that states Suzuki Reika should graduate from the academy as soon as possible and learn under the tutelage of a capable teacher.

The perfect candidate storms into the village that very same day, covered head to toe in mud and dust and other earthly minerals, and makes a rather loud protest as to _ever_ going to the Iwa border again, no matter how qualified or capable she may be. She follows this statement with several threats about the destruction of a certain ninja's manhood and how it will be shoved in a couple of particularly uncomfortable places if he denies her request. The Third Hokage smiles in amusement and says, "Well then, how would you like to be a sensei instead?"

* * *

><p>One sunny day in late spring, Kakashi walks Reika to school for the first time in a long while, only for her to be dragged away at the entrance and into an examination hall whereby a strict-faced chūnin tells her to 'finish this test, then demonstrate each of the jutsu on this list.' She does so, almost snorting at the low levelled jutsu she has been asked to perform. One body replacement, two clones, five katas and a simple genjutsu later, she is being handed a black hitai-ate and is quite literally <em>shoved<em> into the adjacent classroom.

She almost scowls at the completely dishonoured way in which she graduates, with no notice of the examination and most definitely no time to bask in the glory of her promotion. The crack of knuckles snaps her from her deep reverie, however, and she stares in surprise at the source of the noise.

The figure awaiting her is tall, voluptuous and deadly. The woman steps out of the shadows and into the light, offering the girl a sadistic, lopsided grin. "Reika-chan," she purrs, "nice to see you made it. Now let's get started."

* * *

><p>Miyazaki Kaede is the most insane woman Reika has ever had the misfortune of meeting.<p>

She's twenty-eight years of front-line experience packed into the tanned and athletic body of a killing machine. Her brown eyes, the same shade of rich soil that her earth natured chakra allows her to manipulate so easily, are sharp and wise and _all-knowing_. Her thick, wiry hair is a rusty auburn and curls loosely down to her shoulders, no attempt having been made to combat the wild mane. Her sun-kissed skin is freckled, the tiny pinpricks of brown scattered over her nose, cheeks and shoulders like spilt sugar.

The woman drags Reika to the edge of Konoha and gestures to the towering wall beside them, whereby she declares that three laps around the entire village should be sufficient enough for today's training. Reika blanches – she's never been physically strong and, despite her stamina, she is sure that three laps will most definitely kill her. But the evil glint in Kaede-sensei's eyes convinces her that if she doesn't get moving _now,_ she will be killed even faster.

Reika decides that she might as well just go at full velocity around the village, and hope against hope that the momentum will keep her going.

(All Minato sees is a blur of blonde hair whiz by in his peripheral vision and, for the first time ever, he realises what it must be like for his enemies when they see him disappear in a flash of yellow.)

Kaede-sensei awaits her student impatiently and is in the middle of estimating that the little girl should collapse somewhere near the northern gate in about another fifteen minutes, when suddenly Reika is _there_, bowed at her feet and panting from exhaustion. Kaede-sensei has never seen a genin so young complete such a task – with the exception of that bratty prodigy that Minato is always bragging about, of course – and cracks a half-smile when the girl closes her pupiless turquoise eyes in a worn out huff before fainting at her feet.

* * *

><p>Reika decides she wants to go back to the academy and is almost halfway there when she is plucked from the street by the collar of her t-shirt and flung almost twenty metres in the opposite direction. She lands somewhat clumsily and rolls into a crouch, blue eyes searching wildly. She spots Kaede-sensei's tall form standing with her hands on her hips on the opposite rooftop, sandaled foot tapping. The little girl has to fight the urge to <em>run for her life<em>. She soon learns that Kaede-sensei is not to be toyed with and if you even _damnwell think about it_, a suitable punishment is sure to follow.

Gekkō Hayate finds his ex-classmate tied upside-down to a tree, bound by thick rope around the trunk, failing miserably to bite through the gag tied tightly across her mouth. When he finally aids her in a rather undignified escape, the only form of thanks he is offered is a whirlwind of unique curses and vulgarities he is sure no other individual could have conjured up, before she dashes off in an ambiguous direction in a blur of pure, unaltered hatred.

* * *

><p>"I'm not coming out."<p>

Kakashi lets out a heavy breath of frustration and shuts his eyes, resting his forehead against her bedroom door. "Reika-chan, you have to."

"No!"

Despite himself, Minato's mouth quirks up at the corner. It's moments like these that remind him that Kakashi and Reika are still young children, regardless of whether or not they are shinobi. He leans his back against the wall and crosses his arms, watching his student's mild annoyance grow to aggravation. The six year old girl had begun barricading her bedroom door in the early hours of the morning after setting several small traps in the hallway, which Kakashi had walked into on his way to the bathroom, much to his embarrassment and displeasure. This was when the boy realised something was wrong and called his sensei to see what could be done.

Battered and bruised and covered in various unnameable substances, the young chūnin is determined to find the reason his friend is refusing to leave her room. If he were to guess, he thinks it most likely has something to do with her new teacher, Miyazaki-san. He has heard rumours that Kaede-sensei is a rather unique character, although he has not met her personally. Even Minato-sensei seems a little scared of her, judging by his nervous disposition whenever the woman's name is mentioned. Kakashi is curious as to what the kunoichi is like.

The very second that thought passes through his head he hears a single knock, a sound similar to someone tapping their knuckles against a pane of glass. Even more confusingly, the sound had come from the other side of Reika's barricaded door. Kakashi comes to the conclusion that it must have been the young girl, but the inside of her room has gone suspiciously quiet. Minato raises an eyebrow.

The shattering of a window and the subsequent screams that follow alert the two males of the break-in from the other side of the doorway and Kakashi immediately readies himself for conflict, falling into a fighting stance. His sensei's hand on his shoulder is the only thing that stops him from destroying Reika's bedroom wall. Several more scraping sounds can be heard along with Reika's continuous howling as the furniture in front of the door is cleared away swiftly. With a haul the door is slammed open, revealing the mess of glass and splintered wood inside.

Kaede stands in the doorway, a wriggling girl under one arm with the other planted firmly on her hip. She grins wildly. "Hey boys," she greets, voice low, "Clear this mess up for me, will you? I have some things to take care of." And with those words, she strides down the hall and out of the apartment, Reika's screams echoing the whole way.

Minato and Kakashi share a look of terror and decide the safest option would most likely be to do as she says.

* * *

><p>Eventually, Reika learns that resistance is futile.<p>

Perhaps it should have been clear to the girl sooner, but she finally comes to the conclusion that Kaede-sensei is not a woman to be disobeyed. On the other hand, in spite of the Jōnin's tough exterior, she is a very dedicated teacher. Her training regime is beyond difficult, designed to push Reika to her very limits as a ninja in order to prepare her for missions in the outside world.

Every day, Kaede starts with their first training exercise – a single lap around the perimeter of the village, something Reika grows used to over time and comes to appreciate as good exercise and a great way to strengthen her rather petite body. This is followed by a combination of a general knowledge quiz and weapons training, in which Kaede asks a question and tosses a weapon of some kind, most often a shuriken, at Reika simultaneously and the girl has to answer correctly as quickly as she can while deflecting the incoming projectile. Each incorrect answer doubles the number of weapons thrown during the next question and this continues for as long as Kaede deems it necessary. Afterwards, the real training begins.

Minato has told Kaede of the _Chakra Tainted Taijutsu _technique that Reika came to create, and the woman decides to begin shaping it into something the young genin can use more excessively. They practise for hours on end and by the end of the day Reika has developed both a keen understanding of chakra manipulation and a somewhat genuine respect for her sensei. It is the beginning of a rocky coexistence but Reika supposes she can live with it.

She doesn't say it, but Kaede is secretly extremely impressed with Reika's fast learning and unmoving determination. Ultimately, even with the girl's lack of raw physical strength, she is possibly one of the most well suited candidates to become a ninja that Kaede has seen in many years. Maybe, just maybe, Reika will one day become a match for even the most talented of shinobi.

The little girl performs a faulty shockwave of chakra that proceeds to knock her off her own feet and she lands crookedly on the ground several metres away in a puff of dirt. Rolling her eyes at the irony, Kaede begins to doubt her previous thoughts as she hauls Reika's tiny body to her feet.

* * *

><p><span>Trivia<span>: Reika was born prematurely, at just 32 weeks.


End file.
